


Fu*%ing Elevators

by Bodgei



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Deaf Character, Deaf Clint Barton, F/M, Hospitals, Injury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-30 03:52:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15088418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bodgei/pseuds/Bodgei
Summary: Things weren't supposed to go this way.  They really weren't





	1. Kate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MsMockingbird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsMockingbird/gifts).



> Unbetad. Based on the future I was worried about last week.

Kate didn’t want to call Clint. She didn’t want to be the one to tell him. She had never seen him so happy. She would have said dancing like a lunatic happy, but Clint was more likely to dance like a lunatic when he was sad then when he was happy. 

Clint had *glowed* when he had told Kate that Chris was pregnant. *GLOWED* 

Only girls glowed about pregnancy. Girls, and Clint apparently. 

She spent a second deciding if she should find a way to swing down or if she should just run down the fire escape. She tapped her earbud as she started down, “Hawkeye?” 

“Yes, Hawkeye?” Clint’s voice 

“You need to get here,” she said. 

“I’m a little busy,” Clint said. She heard the sound of fighting in the background . 

“No, Clint,” she said reaching the street and running to where Lucky was guarding a fallen Chris, “Now,” then, “Lucky down!” 

“Lucky?” Clint asked. Then he let out a small whine. 

“We are in front of the vet.” 

“Is she…” 

“Hang on,” Kate knelt by Chris 

“Clint is going to flip his shit,” Chris said to the younger woman. 

Chris’ leg was trapped under rubble from the fallen building, “She is talking, but bring someone strong. She’s stuck.” 

She heard Hawkeye call for Ironman. She heard panicked movement. 

“Hey, Chris,” Kate said pulling the earbud out of her ear, “This is gonna be gross but I think that he’ll do better if he can talk to you.” 

“Yeah, it would probably be best for everyone,” Chris said holding out a hand. When she had the thing in she asked “How do I get in touch with Hawkeye?” 

“Just press it and say who you want to talk to.”

Chris pressed the earbud and said, “Hawkeye?” 

Chris flinched at whatever Clint had said.

“As good as I can be with a piece of a building on my leg,” she said. Kate noticed she smiled when she said that and one of her hands were making small signs, “I’m just going to wait here for you.” 

Kate wanted to give them privacy, but she took the other woman’s hand and sat there, Lucky and Nile sitting next to her, guarding the two woman. She didn’t move until Clint landed, his eyes wide in panic. 

It was all movement and panic as Ironman lifted the rubble and Chris was dragged away from danger by Kate and Clint. Then there was the Pieta of Clint cradling Chris to him, their hands talking but their voices silent. 

Clint looked up at Kate, “Go on, Katie. Go be a hero. I have Chris, we’ll wait for the ambulance.” 

“The dogs?” she asked. She didn’t have the heart to tell Clint not to call her Katie.

“They’re good dogs. They can get home,” Clint said. 

“Naw, Hawkeye,” Kate said, “I got this. Lucky, Nile, let’s get you home.” 

“Katie?” Clint called after the young woman. When Kate stopped and turned he smiled up from the ground, pain in his sky blue eyes. 

“Yeah?”

“Thank you,” he said.


	2. Chris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the hospital

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You would be surprised how easy it is to fall asleep on the edge of a hospital bed

Everything hurt. There was a fuzzy edge to all the pain that spoke of a ton of drugs going through her system. Her hand brushed her belly, she could feel the swell of her pregnancy, even if it didn’t really show through her clothes yet. 

As she reached past that evidence of life, to her left leg, where the pain was centered, a familiar, calloused hand took hers. 

“How are you feeling?” Clint asked. 

“Horrible,” she mumbled. The thumb of her free hand making a circle with the second finger and then flicking out. 

“You don’t have to sign,” he said. Then, “I love you.” 

She pushed his fingers of the hands that were clasped together into the ‘I love you’ sign. He snorted. 

She opened her eyes and looked at Clint. He looked wrecked, “When did you sleep last?” 

He shrugged, “yesterday.”

“You are a silly boy,” she said, she reached across and patted the pillow next to her head. 

He rested his head on the pillow, against her shoulder, “you were in surgery.” 

She shifted. A nurse came in, “Oh good! You are awake. Now your boyfriend can stop threigting people.” 

“Were you doing that Clint?” 

“I…” he trailed off. 

“I’ll get a doctor, he can talk to you.” 

When the doctor came in he said, “You can go now Mr. Barton.” 

“No,” Chris said, “He stays.” 

“He isn’t your husband.” 

“He is my domestic partner. I’m on his health insurance. He stays.” 

“Fine,” the doctor said, but he didn’t seem happy, “Your feimer was shattered just below the point of your hip, you had a unstable break in your pelvis on the left side.”

He talked for some time and finally said, “I don’t know if you will be able to carry to term. Mr. Barton knew that part already. Actually he knew all of this and he didn’t take it well at all.” 

“They threatened to sedate me,” Clint said quietly.

“They probably should of, Darling.” 

That got the Doctor to smile, “other people close to Hawkeye have been treated here. We were prepared,” the doctor paused and then asked, “how is the pain?” 

“I’m in quite a bit it is burning. Nerve pain.” 

“There may be nerve damage,” the doctor said flipping up her gown and showing her the incision, “Mr. Barton says you are a Physical Therapist?” 

“Yes,” she said. 

“You could still lose the leg,” he said, “this pain could be permanent.” 

“Well you are a Debby Downer,” Clint chirped. 

“He is giving me the worst case,” Chris said, “He isn’t saying anything I didn’t already know.” 

Clint’s hands flashed *he asked me about ending the pregnancy* 

“You are deaf?” the doctor asked. 

“No, my mother is,” Chris said, then signed to Clint *talk after* 

“Do you need more pain killer?” the doctor asked. 

“Yes,” Chris said, “and something for Hawkeye to sleep on? I know him. He isn’t going anywhere for a little while.” 

*****

He didn’t leave her side. When she woke again from that hazy drugged sleep of hospitals, Clint was stretched out on a reclining chair. He was on his side, facing her with his arm thrown out, loosely, his right hand resting on her shoulder. His left was fisted under his chin. 

He looked peaceful and she didn’t really want to wake him, but she reached up and touched his hand. When he opened his eyes she said, “hey.” 

“Hey,” he replied, “How are you feeling?” 

“Thirsty,” she rasped. 

Clint shifted and sat up. He poured a glass of water and put a straw in the glass, holding it out for her. The look on his face, like he was holding out the Holy Grail, made her smile. 

“I can hold it myself,” she said gently. 

“But…” he trailed off. 

She took it from him. And promptly spilled some on herself. Clint took the cup back. She drank the whole cup and then said “Thanks.” 

She sank back into her pillows. 

Clint ran his fingers through her hair, “I’ve been there.” 

“I know,” she said, “I was with you last time you had the flu and you spent two weeks talking about how much your pelvis hurt.” 

“I don’t want you hurting,” he said. 

“I don’t think you get a choice in that,” she sighed. 

“I bought an elevator,” he said in a rush. 

She blinked at him. 

“I mean, I’m having it added to the building,” he said, “I don’t want you to feel like I need to take you anywhere you need to go. I want you to feel like you can come and go as you please. Even if…” 

“Even if I can’t ever walk again?” 

Clint pulled back at her words. 

“You don’t want to have to pull a wheelchair up a flight of stairs to get me to bed.” 

He shook his head. 

“And if you are away, how do I get up the stairs?”

His eyes were gleaming with hurt and unshed tears. 

“And a baby? How do I-” her voice cracked and the words came to a stop. 

Clint shot out of his chair and gathered Chris to him. Or as close as he could with her leg in traction. She sobbed into his chest. Clint let his tears fall into her hair. 

“I think the Doctor it right,” he said voice think with tears, “I think you need to heal and I think we try again once you are stable.” 

“But, Clint, you-” 

Clint pulled back and looked directly into Chris’ eyes, “But me, nothing,” he said forcefully, “I need you to be alright. I need you to get better. I don’t need to be a father.” 

I knew he was lying. He did need to be a father. He had never thought about wanting a child before, now he wanted to have a baby. 

But he had an injury like Chris’ and it had thrown him for a loop. It had left him in a bad place. He didn’t want the woman he loved to go through the same emotional damage. 

He needed her to be alright. 

A baby could come later.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm pretty sure that Bobbi was pregnant when she and Clint were together, but I was way to lazy to look it up.


End file.
